Sw Journal: City Reaps Few Legislative Successes Amid Stalemate
The Park Board lost a chance at its $5 million request to finish a $10.2 million project to renovate Lake of the Isles, its top bonding priority.
The money would pay for bridge repair, parkway improvements, and shoreline and path work on the north arm and south shore. Park lobbyist Brian Rice said the project appeared to be in good shape: the Senate had $2.5 million for Lake of the Isles; the House had $2 million when the Legislature adjourned.
"We are like everyone else," Parks Commissioner Walt Dziedzic said. "We didn't fare too well."
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's biggest legislative achievement was getting the state to include sections of the Grand Rounds in Northeast Minneapolis in the Metro Parks regional park system, said Dziedzic, who chairs the Intergovernmental Relations Committee. It makes Columbia Parkway, Stinson Boulevard and Ridgeway Parkway eligible for Met Council trail maintenance money.
When the bonding bill died, the Park Board lost approximately $3 million for various projects through Metro Parks, a regional park improvement program administered by the Metropolitan Council, Rice said.